Rubber, such as the side walls of automobile tires, has heretofore been cleaned by various means, including soap pads made of metal mesh embedded with soap which are wetted and rubbed against the tire to clean it. The tire is then rinsed to wash away the soap and dirt. The use of such soap pads is generally objectional because the abrasive action results in the pad becoming separated and not suitable for further use after only a small area of the tire hase been cleaned. The use of expensive brushes and chemicals in cleaning tires is also objectional in instances where the chemical adversely affects the tire or the metal hub caps and rims contacted by the chemical. General household cleaning compounds have been used to clean tires but they are generally inefficient and messy. All of these prior art procedures are relatively slow compared to the cleaning of rubber with use of the present invention and rinsing with water.
The patented prior art includes a scourer for kitchen utensils, a device for abrasion cleaning of concrete, a rubbing block including sandstone or artificial sandstone for finishing automobile bodies, and a scourer formed from a serrated wooden block to clean marble and stone as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,386,900; 3,564,779; 1,896,946; and 409,652, respectively. None of the patented art, to applicant's knowledge, discloses a device particularly structured, as is applicant's, to clean rubber and the like.